RFK Jr.'s mixed message about the measles outbreaks draws criticism from
health officials
[April 16, 2025]
By AMANDA SEITZ
WASHINGTON (AP) — As measles outbreaks popped up across the U.S. this
winter, pediatricians waited for the nation's public health agency to
send a routine, but important, letter that outlines how they could help
stop the spread of the illness.
It wasn't until last week — after the number of cases grew to more than
700, and a second young child in Texas had died from a measles infection
— that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally issued its
correspondence.
The delay of that letter may seem minor. But it is one in a string of
missteps that more than a dozen doctors, nurses and public health
officials interviewed by The Associated Press identified in the Trump
administration's response to the outbreak.
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s efforts to contain an epidemic
in a tight-knit, religious community in West Texas have run counter to
established public health strategies deployed to end past epidemics.
“What we are lacking now is one, clear strong voice — from the federal
to the state to the local — saying that the vaccine is the only thing
that will prevent measles," said Patricia Stinchfield, a nurse and
infectious disease expert who helped stop a 2017 measles outbreak in
Minnesota's Somali community.
An ‘extremely unusual’ approach to the outbreak
Behind the scenes, Kennedy has not been regularly briefed in person on
the outbreak by his own infectious disease experts at the CDC at least
through March 21, according to Kevin Griffis, a career staffer who
worked as the agency's communications director until he resigned that
day.
Even after the measles claimed its first young Texas victim in late
February, Kennedy had still not been briefed by CDC staff, Griffis said.
His account was confirmed by a second former federal health official,
who resigned at the end of February.
A spokesperson for Kennedy did not answer specific written questions
about how he had been briefed or his communications with CDC staff.
The spokesperson said the CDC activated an Atlanta-based response in
early February to provide overall guidance on measles testing and
vaccination strategy. An on-the-ground team was deployed to West Texas
throughout most of March and withdrawn on April 1.
It was a “joint decision” between state and federal officials to send
the team home, CDC spokesman Jason McDonald said. Another team of seven
was dispatched back to the region this week.
In previous administrations, health secretaries held weekly briefings
with CDC staff, lasting between 25 and 30 minutes, during infectious
disease outbreaks, both former HHS officials said. Kennedy, instead,
received updates on paper or through email, Griffis said.
“That is extremely unusual,” said Griffis, who sat in on such briefings
with the previous health secretary and said that none were held for
Kennedy during his first month on the job. “I’ve never seen that
before.”
In another irregularity, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the
nation's largest network of pediatricians, has not been tapped to work
with the CDC on the outbreak, according to the organization's officials.
Historically, the CDC and AAP have convened for monthly or biweekly
briefings during outbreaks to share updates, which include details about
what doctors are seeing and questions they're fielding from parents in
exam rooms. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely
discuss the health department's response.
The only updates provided widely to pediatricians by the CDC have come
from a health alert network update sent on March 7, a week after the
first U.S. measles death in a decade, and the letter sent to providers
last week, which, according to the pediatric academy officials, was late
in the outbreak.
Kennedy praised the CDC on Tuesday during an event in Indianapolis,
saying it “had done a very good job controlling the measles outbreak.”
Kennedy endorses vaccines, but still raises safety doubts
Kennedy's inconsistent and unclear message on the measles vaccines has
also made the outbreaks difficult to contain, experts say.
[to top of second column]
|
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr
speaks during a Make Indiana Healthy Again initiative event in
Indianapolis, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
He has occasionally endorsed the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine as
“effective,” but also continues to raise safety concerns about the shots
in other statements. In a CBS interview last week, he claimed the
vaccines were “not safety tested.”
That approach has been the biggest flaw of the government's response,
said Dr. Carlos del Rio, the president of the Infectious Disease Society
of America.
“Imagine if the captain of the Titanic had told you that you need to be
careful about lifeboats and think about other opportunities,” del Rio
said.
Trials were conducted on thousands of children before the vaccine was
approved for use in the 1960s. The federal government has since used
medical records to continue to monitor for side effects from use in
millions of people since.
Health secretaries have typically delivered a clear message urging the
public to get vaccinated during outbreaks, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, a
former deputy director at the CDC who retired after 33 years at the
agency in 2021.
President Donald Trump and his first-term health secretary, Alex Azar,
urged people to get shots during news conferences in 2019, when measles
ripped through Brooklyn and infected more than 1,200 nationwide.
“You don’t necessarily need the secretary of health to attend a funeral,
OK, but you don’t want to have mixed messages on vaccines,” Schuchat
said. “Someone in a federal building in Washington can do a lot of harm
from the way that they are messaging.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also quiet on vaccines
Local leaders have largely been left alone to urge the public to take up
vaccinations.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has not urged the public to get
vaccinated, either. He has not held any news conferences about the
outbreak and posted just once on social media about measles since
January. Any statements about the illnesses, which have also put 56
people in the hospital at some point, have been left to his aides.
Abbott's office did not respond to questions about his response to the
outbreak.
Governors in other states have responded more forcefully to the growing
measles case count. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat and a doctor,
made front page news last week after urging Hawaiians to take up
vaccines when the state recorded its first measles case in a year.
Ahead of a busy travel week for the Easter holiday, Nebraska Gov. Jim
Pillen, a Republican, unequivocally called on people to vaccinate
themselves and their children. There are no known measles cases in
Nebraska, but an outbreak is active in neighboring Kansas.
“If you’re not vaccinated, you’re going to get measles,” Pillen said
last week.
Those types of statements are important for the public to hear leaders
say from the top down, said Dr. Oxiris Barbot, who was New York City's
health commissioner during the 2019 measles outbreak.
Barbot worked with local rabbis, as well as doctors and nurses in the
Jewish community, to send messages that encouraged vaccine uptake. Calls
from Trump and Azar, who urged the public to vaccinate, helped her make
the case, too.
When national leaders distance themselves from that message, she said it
“starts to erode the effectiveness of people who are trying to convey
those messages at the local level.”
___
Associated Press writers Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, Devi Shastri in
Milwaukee and Margery Beck in Omaha contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
